Image: a blue shark takes a look at the Condor Express.
2024 12–21 SB Channel
Captain Danny and the crew reported excellent conditions in The Channel today for locating and watching wildlife. Seas were glassy and skies were sunny all day. Sightings included: 2 blue sharks, 50 California sea lions, 30 offshore bottlenose dolphins, 10 Dall’s porpoise and 6 humpback whales.
Near The Farm we slowly drifted by a raft of 50 or so sea lions resting on the surface. Many had their pectoral flippers up in the air which allows them to regulate their body temperature (it was a sunny day), and perhaps alters their underwater silhouette to present less of a potential target for predators…being in a mob also helps the latter.
We moved west a bit and soon were intercepted by at least 30 animated offshore bottlenose dolphins. There was a bunch of nice aerial action including both partial and full body leaps. Many of the dolphins came to the boat for a look at their fans.
Moving south, as we neared the NOAA Mid-Channel Buoy, 10 high-speed torpedoes, aka Dall’s porpoise, were seen for a short while. Captain Danny drove in a wide circle to the porpoise could ride our wake while we had amazing, head-on views of these little mammals.
South of The Lanes and close to beautiful Santa Cruz Island we watched a group of 4 humpback whales twice, as our sighting was “interrupted” by a 5-foot blue shark finning on the glassy surface. (See today’s photo for an example). The shark finally dove out of sight and we re-joined the whales. We observed some rolling around and short bursts of fast swimming which may indicate some courtship behavior.
To the east we watched 2 smaller humpback whales which made a couple of nice, friendly approaches to the Condor. Soon thereafter, a second, slightly smaller blue shark was watched very close to the boat.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Comments